Responding to Molefe's Anti-abortionism.

In his recent book, An African Ethics of Personhood and Bioethics: A Reflection on Abortion and Euthanasia (2020), South African philosopher Motsamai Molefe argues for the impermissibility of abortion on the grounds that a foetus possesses the potential for dignity, which he argues amounts to the po...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Theoria: A Journal of Social & Political Theory Vol. 72; no. 184; pp. 43 - 63
Autores principales: Alhadeff, Brooke, Lerm, Jessica
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Berghahn Books Sep2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
fields @attributes:
  recordID: 1
pdfLink:
plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=188102397&site=ehost-live
header:
  @attributes:
    shortDbName: ssf
    uiTerm: 188102397
    longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson)
    uiTag: AN
  controlInfo:
    bkinfo:
    jinfo:
      jid:
        00405817
        LUX
      jtl: Theoria: A Journal of Social & Political Theory
      issn: 00405817
      maglogo: N
    pubinfo:
      dt: Sep2025
      vid: 72
      iid: 184
      pid: 1130
      pub: Berghahn Books
    artinfo:
      ui:
        188102397
        10.3167/th.2025.7218403
      ppf: 43
      ppct: 20
      formats:
        fmt:
          – @attributes:
              type: T
          – @attributes:
              type: P
              size: 795KB
      tig:
        atl: Responding to Molefe's Anti-abortionism.
      aug:
        au:
          Alhadeff, Brooke
          Lerm, Jessica
        affil:
          Graduate Student, University of the Western Cape, South Africa
          Lecturer, University of the Western Cape, South Africa
      su:
        Abortion
        Euthanasia
        Bioethics
        Pro-life movement
        African philosophy
        Ethicists
        Humanity
        Potentiality theory (Philosophy)
      sug:
        subj:
          Abortion
          Euthanasia
          Bioethics
          Pro-life movement
          Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Biotechnology)
          African philosophy
          Ethicists
          Humanity
          Potentiality theory (Philosophy)
      keyword:
        Africa
        anti-abortionism
        dignity
        euthanasia
        inconsistency
        indeterminacy
        Motsamai Molefe
        potentiality
        Africa
        anti-abortionism
        dignity
        euthanasia
        inconsistency
        indeterminacy
        Motsamai Molefe
        potentiality
      ab: In his recent book, An African Ethics of Personhood and Bioethics: A Reflection on Abortion and Euthanasia (2020), South African philosopher Motsamai Molefe argues for the impermissibility of abortion on the grounds that a foetus possesses the potential for dignity, which he argues amounts to the potential to develop the African virtues. However, we argue, firstly, that his account of the supposed wrongfulness of abortion is inconsistent with his later account of the supposed permissibility of euthanasia; we argue that his account succumbs to the well-known objections to the potentiality principle from as long ago as the 1970s; and, finally, we argue that his account is indeterminate in so far as it does not conclusively entail the immorality of abortion in the first place. Altogether, this amounts to a decisive rejection of Molefe's anti-abortionism.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
    refInfo:
    copyright:
      @attributes:
        flag: N
    holdings:
      @attributes:
        islocal: N